Why you should feel SORRY for nepo babies like Sunday Rose Kidman

When Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's daughter Sunday Rose, 16, made her catwalk debut for MiuMiu it didn't get quite the breathless reception the brand was expecting. 

The teeanger's ‘stomping’ went viral on TikTok, with commenters critiquing her style, saying that she looked like a 'petulant child', and calling for brands to give opportunities to up and coming models, rather than youngsters whose only qualification is having famous parents. 

Her mother Nicole is said to be encouraging Sunday to 'forge her own path' and not to look at any social media criticisn, but I fear this might be the wrong advice. 

Why would anyone want their child to be known as a nepo kid; those much maligned, talent-light celebrity offspring usually dead-eyed and posturing at an envelope opening near you?

Admittedly their lives can seem gilded; unlimited opportunities handed to them on a plate along with their already silver spoon. Yet the road from co-ed boarding school to acting in their parents’ films can be fraught.

With their panned vanity projects, they tend to get found out, swallowed up and spat out in the fame by proxy gravy train where you’re only required to be a pale imitation of the real thing - and who really wants that?

Take the Gallagher brood. Oasis fans were still stuck in ticket queue-hell for next summer’s much hyped reunion gigs when out swanned Liam’s sons Lennon and Gene and Noel’s daughter Anais to milk the moment at London Fashion Week. 

Complete with obligatory gormless pout, Gene Gallagher (Oasis’s 2025 tour support act) appeared at the Burberry show looking like a cut price Liam tribute act; proof that for all the open doors, the nepo world is a closed case: soulless, naff and often rather sad.

For all the entitled swagger and wearing their nepo credentials like a badge of honour isn’t the joke on them? 

Where’s the real reward in trying to channel your dad’s Mancunian working class rebel act when you’re a North London-dwelling former private school pupil?

Of course, Gallagher junior is not the only one. There’s plenty more whose currency is based on channelling their parents’ heyday. 

Take Cindy Crawford’s model daughter Kaia Gerber with a penchant for recreating her mother’s iconic 90s outfits on the red carpet. 

At the premiere of her new film, Shell, (me neither) in Toronto last month the model and actress sported a version of the Hervé Leger body-con maxi dress Crawford’s wore to the 1993 Oscars. 

Not big or especially clever; just serving as a familiar but less starry time warp, the only real reminder being how the nepo generation 2.0 falls so much shorter than the originals.

Elizabeth Hurley’s model son Damian is equally inspired by Mummy and trades on the association - with his luscious locks and love of lip-gloss. 

The actor who has appeared in The Royal’s starring Liz Hurley and director of Strictly Confidential also starring Liz Hurley couldn’t resist recreating mum’s famous Versace safety pin dress with a suited version.

Of course, it’s not really their fault. The thirst for ‘90s nostalgia has given these otherwise unremarkable sprogs of those who came of age in the era of brit pop, the supermodels, spice girl mania and cool Britannia a free pass into popular culture that loves a good legacy.

While UK broadcasting royalty like the Dimblebys and acting greats such as the Redgraves can attest to multi-generational talent this is some way removed from the current nepo verse untroubled by meritocracy. 

No one appears to care how good or bad you are, how unprepared or unqualified there’s always a TV channel and publisher willing to sign up this by proxy star dust, elevate what is often little really more than a hobby or indulgence with a book and tv deal.

It’s why it’s pretty common for the usual suspects to have racked up so many careers at such a young age. 

Anais Gallagher’s creaking CV confirms the usual coterie; author, model, photographer and even fashion editor for Tatler magazine all by the tender age of 24. 

Multi-talented polymaths or a reflection of easy opportunities and a low boredom threshold?

It’s all such a contrast to the more single-minded focus that propelled their parent’s original success. 

From a young David Beckham practicing his free kick for hours to Gordon Ramsey’s hard graft and long hours in the kitchen of Marco Pierre White – it took hard work and application to reap the rewards. 

Is it any surprise that the next generation, often pushed into similar directions but with a safety net of trust funds and no real risk or consequences are a little less motivated.

In this world, there’s little sign of honing your trade, rising up the ranks or God forbid doing an apprenticeship – unless it’s with celeb-friendly photographer, Rankin and you happen to be Brooklyn Beckham in photography phase circa 2019 about to release a book of his snaps. 

The 25-year-old has been a model, chef and brand ambassadors since, as well as hawking his new savoury sauce range in posh supermarket chain Wholefoods with mum, dad and siblings all in tow.

Some blame must fall on the parents seemingly hellbent on expanding their brand and own ubiquity to the next generation however flimsy the foundations leaving their loved ones rather exposed in the process.

Cue this week’s social media roasting of Sunday-Rose Urban Kidman’s sullen, stompy catwalk debut at Paris fashion week.

Gordon Ramsay’s daughter Tilly’s precise job description remained a moot point when she was contestant on Strictly Come Dancing. 

Furthermore, do we really need Jamie Oliver’s mini-me son Buddy making cheese toasties on his new BBC show? How about just for once letting someone without all the parental privileges get a look in rather than this weary obsession with keeping it in the family.

The world of the nepo kid is a glossy fast, free pass to the world of celebrity and its riches but the flipside is evident. 

To never feel that true satisfaction that comes from little self-made hard graft and for your raison d’etre to rest on the (often fading) relevance of your famous family is not that much to write home about.